Martí Barrera i Maresma

Martí Barrera i Maresma (29 May 1889 in La Bisbal del Ampurdán – 26 April 1972 in Barcelona) was a Spanish politician, member of the Republican Left of Catalonia. He had also been an active member of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), director of the newspaper Solidaridad Obrera and minister of Labor in the Generalitat de Catalunya.

He participated in the anarcho-syndicalist movement in the beginning of 20th century, through the CNT. At the time, he was also director of the newspaper Solidaridad Obrera. In 1920 he was arrested and imprisoned in Mahón, in the Balearic islands, along with Lluís Companys, Salvador Seguí and about thirty other people, for their trade union activities. He stayed in prison until April 1922.

His political positions were mostly in line to those of Salvador Seguí, defending the need of trade unionism and political action. These views, along with the assassination of Salvador Seguí by employers' gunmen and the rise of what he considered extremist groups inside the CNT, led him to distance himself from it and from Solidaridad obrera. After the defeat of the republicans in the Spanish Civil War he was exiled with his family. In 1941, his wife and two daughters returned to Barcelona. He returned in 1950, after receiving authorization but, in 1953, he was sentenced to 12 years and one day in prison, the same as in 1943. He served his sentence under house arrest and with reductions.

He had three children: Heribert (who became president of The Parliament of Catalonia after Franco's dictatorship), Angelina and Rosa Maria. He was also a Freemason.